Triggering on combat is nice, but only hitting your graveyard makes this really narrow. I like Debtor's Knell much more and I'm a far cry from even playing that.
Probably the weakest of the cycle, but you can legit mill somebody with enough recursion. Other than that, the only use for this card is to mess with one mana tutors. This also doesn't have the sorcery clause.
Red utility land that taps for mana AND colorless, doesn't lose me tempo, and provides extra reach! Probably my favorite in the cycle just because we finally have a good option for a red utility land. This doesn't even have the sorcery clause that most deserts have! I don't think there was enough room for the text, haha.
Green utility land that enters the battlefield untapped, taps for green AND colorless, and can sac any desert (there's a cycle of these utility lands) for a Giant Growth. As somebody who supports colorless, this cycle appeals to me and gives our new Magus of the Crucible some toys to play with.
I'm wondering how relevant the activated ability block is. I can't really think of anything major that would stop - Suvival of the Fittest, Vedalken Shackles and Recurring Nightmare are already shut down by turning all creatures into vanilla 1/1s. Opposition and Mishra's Factory seem to be the biggest ones I can think of. Unless there's something major that shuts down, I think its easy enough to break the symmetry of Humility, that I'd rather run Humility since its easier to cast.
Shutting down manlands is huge since their P/T will be unaffected by the Humilty effect when you activate (but Factory / Fumarole would lose their activated abilities once active in a Humility).
I also re-introduced The Abyss when AER came out and I put the artifact deck support in my unpowered cube. It's a great control card for superfriends and artifacts. Can't say I've used it in Stax shells, I tend to build pretty attrition aggro Stax lists, but I can see the implications. I've been building a lot of defensive Esper control lists lately with The Abyss / Maze of Ith / Gideon of the Trials.
I play a lot of attrition type cards that support Stax and other strategies. Can't wait for that Magus of the Crucible!
Careful Study on a stick that can Eternalize for Careful Consideration Value. Eternalize is a bit pricey, but ETB Careful Study is no joke. Seems good in a Recurring Nightmare shell, a traditional reanimator deck would probably want Frantic Search more.
Dumb stats + evasion with afflict is a good place to start. Has a drawback, but it can also be mitigated by hitting your opponent. Zombie Crocodile Demon 10/10 typing.
I'm not seeing any evasion here. I'd rather have a Master of the Feast 9 times out of 10, and that's not a card I'm too excited about anymore.
Afflict is similar to other forms of evasion to get damage through, like trample.
Probably the weakest of the cycle, but you can legit mill somebody with enough recursion. Other than that, the only use for this card is to mess with one mana tutors. This also doesn't have the sorcery clause.
White / Colorless support that doesn't lose me tempo and can cash in late game for an anthem sounds pretty nice.
Red utility land that taps for mana AND colorless, doesn't lose me tempo, and provides extra reach! Probably my favorite in the cycle just because we finally have a good option for a red utility land. This doesn't even have the sorcery clause that most deserts have! I don't think there was enough room for the text, haha.
Black desert! Being able to kill / shrink things is cool and I'm always down for more colorless / Crucible support.
Green utility land that enters the battlefield untapped, taps for green AND colorless, and can sac any desert (there's a cycle of these utility lands) for a Giant Growth. As somebody who supports colorless, this cycle appeals to me and gives our new Magus of the Crucible some toys to play with.
Interesting... Fairly easy to cast this for 3 or 1 mana with a discard outlet, and cycling is nice.
As far as the name goes, it's no Endless One, but what is?
What's so crazy about effecting layers 6 and 7b?
Shutting down manlands is huge since their P/T will be unaffected by the Humilty effect when you activate (but Factory / Fumarole would lose their activated abilities once active in a Humility).
I play a lot of attrition type cards that support Stax and other strategies. Can't wait for that Magus of the Crucible!
Does have some merits with Show and Tell / Eureka though.
Careful Study on a stick that can Eternalize for Careful Consideration Value. Eternalize is a bit pricey, but ETB Careful Study is no joke. Seems good in a Recurring Nightmare shell, a traditional reanimator deck would probably want Frantic Search more.
Afflict is similar to other forms of evasion to get damage through, like trample.